May 21, 2009

Heiress Doris Duke: "It says you haven't worked for six months."

Prospective butler Bernard Lafferty: "I... I had a wee health problem."

"Drugs or alcohol?"

--Bernard and Doris

Baked rye bread overnight.

Dreamed of being in school again; drifting through the hallways unseen, like a Victorian street urchin who spent over a year hidden in Buckingham palace (the half-Aborigine boy in Australia managed to stay "unseen" in one scene).

Printed out the "Bruderlein und Schwesterlein" score.

Dinner was frozen Thai food, which was very colourful.

Saw the DVD of Bob Balaban's Bernard and Doris.  Strange story.

May 20, 2009

Dreamed of the song that goes "All I can see are rainbows in the sky," which I know from Warner Brothers cartoons.

In this weather you can hear the pile driver in the Junction (several miles away) all the way over here!

Went shopping.

We turned on the valve in the basement and I was able to water the garden.

Dinner was halibut.

Went to a Games Meetup at the Fox's Den.  First I played Settlers of Cattan again, and got only five points. (I need to think before putting roads down!) Then I played Risk, for the first time since my youth.  My forces came to be centered on Europe, and my mission was to destroy the grey forces, but I didn't have a chance because they were dug in around Australia.

May 19, 2009

"We can't let them win."

"We won't."

--Australia

Dreamed of the romantic comedy Moonstruck leading to a thriller sequel.

Yesterday I made fettucine alfredo, but there was no cayenne pepper and not enough parmesan.

Last night we saw the DVD of Baz Luhrmann's Australia.  Long, overblown and shameless.

Planted our seedlings in the garden.  This year, they have more space.

Dinner was roast chicken.

The last drama class ended early because of a fire drill. (Roxanne may be about to set up an independent course.)

May 17, 2009

Alexander Hamilton: "Are you questioning my loyalty, sir?"

President Adams: "No, Mr. Hamilton, I'm questioning your sanity!"

--John Adams

Dreamed of reflecting that it's rude to tell someone competing against you in a game that he just made a bad move; military training where recruits get imprinted with a stamp at the back of their shoulders where they couldn't see it.

Went to a Games Meetup at the Yellow Griffin. (It took a while to find.) I played Settlers of Catan again.  Again I finished with seven points, two of them because I had the largest army.  I think I erred in some of my road-building choices.

For dinner, Moira made the leftover pork roast into tikka masala.

Saw the last three episodes of John Adams.  Compelling.

May 16, 2009

Dreamed of the 1960s dance single "Do the Freddie."

We went to Fiesta Farms and bought plants for the garden. (This year, I'm skipping the cucumber and Brussels sprouts so there'll be more space for the others.) There a frost warning for this weekend so we won't be planting till Monday.

Dinner was McDonald's.

Finally uploaded my 76 Toronto City Opera photos to my Photobucket account. (I'll have to alert Barbara.)

May 15, 2009

Mowed the front and back lawns for the first time this spring (at Mother's urging).

Dug a ditch around the garden.  It's now just about ready for planting.

Donald joined us for dinner at Red Lobster.

May 14, 2009

Benjamin Franklin: "My opinion is that I have no opinion"--John Adams

Cinema marquee: "We change our shorts every night"--a Warner Brothers cartoon

Finished forking the garden. (We also planted some flowers in the new front yard strip.)

Dinner was roast pork. (I was going to cook fettucine alfredo, but it was already in the oven.)

Saw the first episodes of the miniseries John Adams. (I went to 2Q Video and was going to rent the last episodes of Twin Peaks, but they were out so I rented this instead.) A really intelligent show, with some great faces and accents.

Baked whole wheat bread overnight.

May 13, 2009

Dreamed of a non-existent Classics Illustrated comic book depicting the voyages of Charles Darwin; the British science fiction TV show Blake's Seven (which I never watched).

Went shopping.

We dug up the low strip in our front yard next to the sidewalk to grow flowers. (Our mower has trouble reaching it.) Father started and I finished.

Dinner was spaghetti.

Went to the Non-Fiction Book Club, again at the Ferret & Firkin.  They talked about Why We Buy, a book I couldn't find.  I left during the intermission. (Book club meetings have intermissions now!)

Got my Cipralex prescription renewed.  Now I'm getting sixty pills at a time again, instead of thirty.

May 12, 2009

Went to see my shrink Dr. Hassan. (He suggested that I visit a massage parlour!) I got Father to drive me to the Yonge subway line because I was late, since I got that puzzle magazine in the mail and I couldn't resist doing some of the Battleship puzzles.

Dinner was lasagna.

At drama class we improvised a scene where I was an architect at a fancy soiree who got drunk and loud and made a scene.  People thought I was really funny. (One of the lines I came up with was "These people wouldn't know good architecture if if bit their dick off!")

Saw part of a DVD of Warner Brothers cartoons featuring caricatures of film, radio and TV celebrities.  They included Edna May Oliver, George Arliss, and people even I don't recognize!

May 11, 2009

Marge: "That talking boat [on TV] sets a bad example." Bart: "Sez you, woman!"

Homer: "The whole reason we have elected officials is so we don't have to think all the time!"

Newscaster Kent Brockham: "I've said it before and I'll say it again:  democracy simply doesn't work."

--The Simpsons

Spent a couple of hours recording the bass lines for most of our June songs for Giovanni.  Mother was difficult because she heard me singing a note that was a bit too high for me.

Dinner was pork chops.

At choir practice Giovanni was so pleased he gave me $5! (I wasn't dignified enough to say no.) We went over several songs that needed extra attention.

May 10, 2009

"We don't do that here." 

"What you do here is fart."

--The Soloist

Steve: "'I love you, Steve!' turns into 'You failed me, Steve!' turns into very bad things.'"

--ibid.

Dreamed of seeing Frank Sinatra in Gunga Din (which movie he wasn't in, though he was in the Rat Pack western version Sergeants Three).

Saw The Soloist at the Empress Walk.  It was a bit conventional (elements of Shine and Good Will Hunting, of course), but Robert Downey Jr. is always worth watching.

John and Kathrine came over for dinner, which was pizza. (I was afraid that I'd be late getting back from the movie and Father would order the pizza without me and include stuff I didn't like on our part, but I got home in plenty of time.)

I've just about finished adapting the "Bruderlein und Schwesterlein" score.

May 9, 2009

Dreamed of Father getting a small house just north of Queensway; a tray of ice cubes, a couple of which had bits of toilet paper inside.

Saw the cinemacast of the Met production of Rossini's La Cenerentola.  This opera started half an hour early, so of course I ended up in the front rows. (Next year, I'm going to see the rebroadcasts instead of the first showings!) A superb production, well mounted by Sharon Thomas.  I especially liked the relationship between Dandini and Prince Ramiro.

Father made lobster rolls, but I've decided I can't stand them (too much mayonnaise, overtoasted buns), so I ended up eating at KFC instead.

My mattress arrived, but it turned out to be too big, so we'll have to exchange it.  The thing is that I'd removed the bedclothes already, so I have to make my bed again! (Hope deferred maketh the heart sick.)

I spoke too soon.  They brought the right mattress (XL double instead of queen size) the same evening!

May 8, 2009

"Do not dye her hair red and thereby presage for her the fires of hell"--St. Jerome

Went to the Reference Library and borrowed a score of Die Fledermaus with "Bruderlein und Schwesterlein." Then I started copying the score with my Notepade softward. (I have to repeat the first part without the other solos and chorus.)

Dinner was fish.

Saw the DVD of Lipstick and Dynamite, a documentary about lady wrestlers in the 1950s.  An odd world.

The mattress we bought was supposed to arrive today, but it didn't.  And I'd gone to the trouble of cleaning my room! (Or at least of moving the debris into one corner...)

May 7, 2009

"The only murderer here is the orchestra director"--Stage Fright

Last night I saw G.W. Pabst's German silent Diary of a Lost Girl (for the second time). When they made Louise Brooks, they broke the mold!

Woke up early.

Went shopping.

Baked white bread.

Dinner was roast chicken.

Finished spading the garden. (Forking is next.) It left me feeling bushed.

Saw the DVD of Alfred Hitchcock's Stage Fright.  Not his most credible thriller, but Alistair Sim helps in a supporting role.

May 5, 2009

"Old Republican pollsters never die--they just don't count any more"--The Huffington Post

Dreamed of the Strauss waltz "Wine, Women and Song"; reflecting that there's been no wine in my life and few women, but there is song; Mickey Rourke's ex-girlfriend Carre Otis.

We went to a mattress shop a short distance from home and found a second one for my bed.

Finally started digging in the garden.

Dinner was shepherd's pie.

Finished The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.

At drama class Jane and I performed the Picnic scene.  I was also in a group that improvised a sandstorm scene. (Someone else in our group had experienced sandstorms in his native Pakistan!)

May 4, 2009

Dreamed of the Best Picture Oscar going to a movie directed by Spike Lee.

I noticed I hadn't got an interest payment I expected last spring.  Father went to the bank and straightened it out, so I'll be getting two payments this month (this year and last year).

Went to my shrink Dr. Hassan's office and booked an appointment. (I also took out a couple of coffee-table books about comics from the Northern District library.)

Dinner was roast beef.

At choir practice we started working on the June concert with opera pieces (my favourite time of year!). It's just about all stuff I've done before.  I told Giovanni I'd record our baritone lines for him.

Scheduled a DBE walk for Open Doors on May 23. (We'll start at Union Station.)

May 3, 2009

"'Where they are, how they are, there's now way we can know and no way we can do anything about it.  Do what I do.'

'What?'

'Don't think about it."

--The Restaurant at the End of the Universe 

"He gestured at the door.... 'Out,' he said.  People who can supply that amount of firepower don't need to supply verbs as well"--ibid.

Went to a Games Meetup at Jeffrey's townhouse near the Don Mills station. (It reminds me of Patrick McGoohan's residence in The Prisoner!) I played Incan Gold and Small World.  The latter is a really fun dungeons & dragons-themed strategy game.  My first force was sorcerers with fortification powers, then I let them go into decline and switched to swarming ratmen.  It was really close--just five points between first and last place--but I came out on top. (I had a big lead midway, but the others almost caught up.)

Dinner was shrimp and the rest of the Chinese food.

Since nobody at the Lunch Club Meetup seems interested in the Stone Grill, I've changed the event to Chef of India on May 30th.

May 2, 2009

On the rock band Disaster Area: "Their songs are on the whole very simple and mostly follow the familiar theme of boy-being meets girl-being beneath a silvery moon, which then explodes for no adequately explored reason"--The Restaurant at the End of the Universe

Steed: "Rubber scissors--what do you make of them?"

Mrs. Peel: "Well, I can't make a paper dolly."

--The Avengers

Went to a Snail's Pace Walking Meetup.  It was a mystery walk, which turned out to be close to home:  we went to Wychwood Barns, then down through Wychwood Park then up the Nordheimer Ravine. (We also entered the Tollkeeper's Cottage, me for the first time.)

Dinner was McDonald's.

Went to a Karaoke Meetup, this time Jonah's group at the Fox & Firkin.  I did the duet "I Got You, Babe" with Eileen. I was going to stay for a second song, but the show was indefinitely interrupted by a boxing match so I left.

May 1, 2009

Dreamed of the joke "What happens if you don't pay your exorcist bill?  You get repossessed!"; the Irene Cara song "Fame."

Saw the DVD of the Korean War movie Tae Guk Gi:  The Brotherhood of War last night.  Long but powerful, it captures the craziness that's always been part of war.

Cancelled my NYC hotel reservation.

Dinner was Chinese food.

The family attended our second Cavalleria Rusticana concert. (They especially liked Igor's Alfio.) I mentioned the exorcist joke to Giuseppe, who of course liked it.

Baked multigrain bread overnight.

April 29, 2009

Dreamed of writing a report on the movie business in 1970 (mentioning the failure of blockbusters like Tora!  Tora!  Tora! and the rise of Clint Eastwood to stardom in the international market).

Went shopping.

Went to the Silverthorn library and borrowed Douglas Adams' The Restaurant at the End of the Universe.  I'm going to change our book club from Emily of New Moon to that book and the original Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

Went to a DBE Meetup at the Art Gallery of Ontario, where I hadn't been since its renovation. (It has a pretty nifty redesign.) There was a huge crowd waiting till 18:00 when admission became free.  I had to leave early because of another event.  On the way to the subway I saw a Tamil demonstration.

Then I went to a Travel Meetup at Grano's. (I had a castarto di simone.) I gave the organizer a free extra ticket to the Cavalleria Rusticana concert that they gave me for selling three.  I think I'll cancel my NYC reservation and organize a group trip to the city instead.

Read over 60 pages of The Restaurant at the End of the Universe!

 

April 28, 2009

Dreamed of a non-existent John Hughes-style 1980s comedy about a teenage girl who gets stuck with taking care of a doddering old lady.

Dinner was scalloped potatoes and ham.

At the drama course I improvised a scene at Olympus where I was the crippled blacksmith god Vulcan.  We didn't get to do the scene from Picnic. (Earlier in the day I was performing both roles for the family.  I wish Moira wouldn't be so quick to tell me how to act!) I'd left my black sweater there the previous week, but it was still there when I returned.

April 27, 2009

 Dreamed of a John Wayne movie like When Worlds Collide, about a crowd of people on a spaceship to escape the earth's impending destruction; hearing a game of Ping Pong (there was a machine outside making a similar noise).

Dinner was pork steak.

At choir practice we went through Cavalleria Rusticana one more time before the second performance.  We also got a list of the songs we'll be singing in the summer concert. (It includes the Pilgrim's Chorus from Tannhauser and the mad scene from Lucia di Lamermoor.) I also heard the short list of shows for the Toronto City Opera's next season: The Marriage of Figaro, Tosca, Madama Butterfly, Tales of Hoffman, and a double bill of Cavalleria and Pagliacci! (If they do either of the last two I'll want to participate.)

April 26, 2009

Dreamed of the Churchill speech where he said "Some chicken!... Some neck!" and reflecting on the people fighting the war who didn't prove so strong.

Saw the DVD of a Royal Opera production of Strauss' Die Fledermaus from 1990 where the show stopped for half an hour in the second act for Joan Sutherland's final performance there (with Luciano Pavarotti and Marilyn Horne). It was translated into English by John Mortimer.  I liked the "Bruderlein und Schwesterlein" number.

Updated my browser to Safari 4.  It now shows my most regularly accessed websites when I open it.

John and Kathrine came over for a vegan dinner. (I sneaked out to KFC afterward.)

Wrote a draft review of Madama Butterfly for mrcranky.com !